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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Incorporating Natural Oils in Your Regimen

Oils are great for your healthy hair journey in that they help nourish your scalp and seal in moisture into your hair. But you must know that oils do not moisturize your hair it simply coats your hair follicles. Because oils are so heavy that they have a hard time penetrating into the follicles of your hair. Oils generally fall into two categories: carrier or essential.

Carrier oils are derived from the fatty portion of nuts,seeds and plants. These oils are bland and thick in consistency and are commonly used for cooking. Some examples of carrier oils are coconut oil, safflower oil, olive oil, and castor oil. Essential oils on the other-hand are derived from a distillation process and are aromatic. A few drops of an essential oil added to a carrier oil helps deliver the properties of the essential oil safely to the scalp. Some examples of essential oils are eucalyptus oil, lavender oil, rosemary oil, and lemongrass oil.

My regimen consists of four oils: coconut oil, safflower oil, Jamaican black castor oil, and eucalyptus oil. All of these oils are beneficial to the hair.

Eucalyptus Oil: is an essential oil and only a little should be added to your carrier oils. This oil helps stimulate the scalp, so it is great when doing scalp massages. Please note that essential oils should always be diluted with a carrier oil. Applying an undiluted essential oil directly to the skin can cause irritation.

Coconut Oil: this considered a carrier oil. In my opinion, this is the first oil you should add to your stock because it nourishes your scalp and we all know the first step to having healthy hair is having a healthy scalp. Coconut oil also has anti fungal and antibacterial properties that makes it good for combatting dandruff.

Safflower Oil: this is another carrier oil. Safflower is great in that it helps dilute the blood vessels in your scalp so that more nutrients can be supplied to the follicles of your hair through blood circulation. Safflower oil contains high amounts of oleic acid, which is light in texture and penetrates the skin easily which helps protect, nourish, hydrate and firm the hair. Safflower oil is also great for hair that has endured damage from being chemically treated.

Castor Oil: castor oil is all the rave right now, my brand of choice is Sunny Isle Jamaican Black Castor Oil. This oil is quite thick in consistency so it is better to dilute it with other carrier oils such as coconut oil or safflower oil to help it thin out. Castor oil is great if you want to thicken your hair, it also smoothes out the cuticle of your hair.

How is regular castor oil different from black castor oil?

That has to do with the processing of the oil. Black castor oil has been processed less than the clear liquid castor oil you may see in your stores. Black castor oil is in its pure, raw form and in that state it is said to have more nutrients which is better for your hair.

There are more oils that you can use, each of them has its own special properties, but all of them help nourish your hair and scalp. So feel free to use what ever oil you like, and have fun making your own concoctions!